Thank You podcast joint host Hoho as he discusses the riveting Netflix original series Black
Mirror. Now Here he is for broadcasting from the Cottage Studio. Welcome to
Black Mirror Podcast and as always, I'm your host, ho Ho. So
hi, y'all was doing I hope you're doing good? I really do so.
Have you alas ever had one of them moments where man, I'm an
idiot? Have you ever had the moments? Because I certainly did. Because
I know, whenever I originally did the episode for Uss Calister, I I
thought that the actor that played the main you know, the main guy,
Robert Daily or Dally however they pronounced it. We'll call him, We'll call
him Robert. I thought it was Matt Damon. I really did, you
know, but you know, it was kind of a chameleon type of a
thing. Okay, you think of some other you know, actors out there.
You know, Christian Bale definitely comes to mind. You know, he
has changed his physique everything for the sake of a role. You know,
I remember whenever I've seen the trailer for Vice. You know, it took
me a minute. It's like, holy crap, that's Christian Bale. You
know, and he completely changed what he looked like for the role. You
know, when several other actors out there, you know, they've done the
same kind of thing. Okay, And I come to find out that the
guy who actually played Bob in this episode was Jesse or Jess Plemons. You
know this guy right here, let me go and pull that up there you
go him now? I mean, look, he could pass as you know,
at least Matt Damon's brother, at least in this picture from two thousand
and seven. So I mean, come on, it wasn't outside the realm
of possibilities. But anyway, this guy, you know, Jesse Plemons,
he's been in quite a few different things too. I mean he was in
you know, thirteen different episodes of Breaking Bad. And one of the things
that I remember him from is being in the movie Battleship, you know,
underrated movie. Excellent movie, by the way, and but you know,
but there you go, you know, And I discovered this because I was
looking up another actor who plays James Walton, the CEO in USS Callister,
and that was actually, you know this guy right here. It was Jimmy
Simpson. You know. I he's been in you know, the TV series
Breakout Kings. And then the thing that I most remember him from, or
at least the first thing I've seen Men was in Stephen King's Rose Red.
Amazing movie, you know, great horror movie. Of course it's Stephen King,
you know. So we're gonna go ahead and talk about this now.
Of course we are talking about you know, the season four episode one,
Uss Callister. Spoiler alert, because we are going to be talking about the
episode and then at the end we're going to be exploring some things on here.
I'm excited about it. Now. This episode opened up ridiculous. Okay.
Now, whenever season four first came out, you know, the first
thing that I've seen was, you know, the trailer of it, of
this episode, Uss Callister, you know, of the you know, the
first trailer for the season, you know, and I'm like, dude,
this this reminds me of you know, Star Trek, you know, not
growing up, I mean, I was a treky man. I was into
you know, Star Trek the next generation, you know, Captain Jean lu
Picard first Officer, whoever that guy was, who did play I don't remember
the character, but anyway, you know, that's what it reminded me of.
You know, and it was very reminiscent of the original William Shatner version,
you know, a star check. It was very reminiscent of that,
but extremely cheesy. I mean, holy crap, you know, I mean
this the opening scene on this was so cheesy. Holy cow. And watching
this, it's like, is this a you know, is he daydreaming?
Is this a you know, just a fantasy thing? I mean, what's
going on? And you're really confused, or at least I was, I
was really confused on the what's going on at this time? And it cuts
from you know, the opening scene, and you got him coming off the
elevator in real life, and you're like, okay, here we go.
Now we're actually getting into the show, right, you know, Now now
we're getting into it. And he is, you know, Robert is a
you know, just really passive guy. People just walking all over him,
you know, just treating him bad, you know, the whole nine yards,
and you feel bad for the guy, you know, and you're really
kind of starting to despise and hate you know, the other people that are
in the office. Okay, and Robert is you know, he's the CTO,
the the the chief technical officer. I believe that's what his title is
of this company, uss of Callister Incorporated. He's the you know, he's
he's the you know, he's the brains behind the entire operation, you know,
overlooked, mistreated, the whole nine yards, you know, and the
CEO, James Watson, I'm sorry, James Walton, which is played by
you know, the the Jimmy Simpson. You know, he walks all over
him, treats him as a person whom just doesn't really matter, and he
kind of feels sorry for Robert because it's like, dude, you know,
he's the one person in the company that you remove him from it and the
whole entire company falls apart because he is the you know, the coder behind
he's the you know, the brains behind the game that they are creating called
Infinity, Okay, and it's like, wow, you know without him,
without Robert, none of this is possible at all. So he really kind
of feels sorry for him. And then you know, he gets home smart
home by the way, and of course, of course it's a smart home.
Yeah, I mean we're talking about a futuristic type of you know technology,
just world at their end, so obviously it's a smart home. And
then he gets on his computer and he opens up this game and to see
that it is a moded version of the Infinity game that they are creating.
And that's when you really start to see just how sick Robert is, you
know, because in life he's passive, you know, in life, he's
he gets walked all over. But in the game on his computer, in
this moded version of Infinity that they're in, he is mean. He is
sick, he is twisted. He takes out all the aggression, and you
know, the person whom he wishes he was in life is the person that
he is in this game. But even still, you don't truly grasp how
sick he is until a little bit later, whenever, at least in his
head, the newcomer that arrives to the company, you know, kind of
passes him, I don't want to say passes him by, but you know,
kind of starts seeing him, in a matter of speaking, in the
same light that everybody else in the office sees him in. And he feels
wrong by that. Okay, something that you would think would be tiny and
trivial, but he's just he's angry about this, and so he takes.
He gets a sample of her DNA, and he uploads that DNA into his
computer and puts her in his moded version of this game. And this is
where you truly start to see just how sick Robert really is. It's like,
holy crap. You know, he's the as as they describe, you
know, he's the god of this universe. I mean, he can do
virtually anything he wants to. And you find out that everybody in this you
know, in his modred version of this game, everybody in there are people
that he did the same thing too. He got their DNA, he put
them in this game, and he just broke them, you know. And
through the course of the show, you know, the first person that was
put into this game was the CEO Walton, and what he did to break
Walton was unthinkable. I mean, holy cow, because he was a able
to get the d DNA of Walton's kid I think his name was Tommy,
I don't remember, and he killed him. Wow. I mean, dude,
Now you want to talk about a dynamic in this that you you know
that they completely changes throughout the course of this episode because in the beginning,
you know, you because you don't know what's going on. You kind of
feel sorry for you know, for Robert. You know, you feel sorry
for him because here's a guy who is the brains of this entire company.
Without him, none of this is possible, and he's getting walked all over
and he's getting made fun of. He's you know, just overlooked. He's
not respected, you know, and you you hate everybody else in it,
or at least you dislike everybody else in the show, especially the CEO Walton,
and then you're like, you see the digital copies of them in the
game, and you feel sorry for them, and you start to really hate
just because of how sick Robert is. You start to hate him. And
we talk about a complete change in dynamics of how you feel about different people
in this Holy crap, you know, I mean wow. And then the
newcomer in this, you know, the guy who or I'm sorry, the
gal Nanette I think is what Yeah, Nanette, you know, she just
doesn't accept her fate. You know. They figure out a way where they
can communicate with people in the outside world, and they devise a plan to
get out. They execute that plan. You know, they destroy the samples
of where Daily got or Daily got Robert got you know, the DNA from
to where they can't do this again. You know, he can't do this
again. And they escape through a wormhole that was an update patch for the
game, and they completely you know, leave and abandoned the game. You
know, they're into the cloud of the actual game itself, that the moded
version of the game is completely wiped away and on. You know, so
everybody on the crew was now free, and then they cut back to you
know, Robert, and now he's he's stuck in the game without any way
of getting out of the game because they took his communicator, which was the
means by which he was able to control everything. So now he's in the
game. And then the game deletes itself because of this patch, and with
this being a modern version of the game, it deletes the entire thing.
And you get the sense that, you know, Robert is now stuck in
limbo, stuck in this game indefinitely. You know, that's that's the feeling
that they give you. You know. Now, Okay, this is an
aspect about myself that I kind of hate. Okay, because I'm of two
minds, Because yes, whenever I'm watching an episode, absolutely I take it,
you know, for what it is. I watch most everything for this
for the entertainment value of it. Okay, I don't generally overanalyze a lot
of the shows I watch, but at the same time, I still kind
of do because after watching this, you know, at the end, I
mean, granted, okay, you're watching this episode and you you cheer the
crew of the USS Calister He's like, yes, they got out. And
then you're like, yes, Robert is getting his up and commings and you
cheer that. You know, he's locked in this game forever. But that's
that's when my mind went, wait a second, they lost me. You
know that this wouldn't actually happen like that. I mean, you know,
for one, you know, it's like you would think the technology, the
thing that they used to interface you know, you into the game, that
that would have some type of a safety protocol in there, you know,
I mean, it's like the most obvious problem that a game would have,
or at least as something would have, you know, the game crashed whatever,
you know, the safety protocol that would be put in there, that
this wouldn't actually happen. And then you have the other aspect of you know,
the same thing that happened to the crew, which whenever they were able
to escape the home computer and then go into the cloud, that the mod
would be deleted and then they would be in the actual game. That the
same thing would happen here the mod would be you know, taken away,
and he would be in the updated version of the game. Why did it
only work for them when they left? But it didn't work for him,
you know. And these are just some of the things that this is where
I was like, no, no, but even still, you know,
it's an aspect of yes, you know, Robert finally got his up and
comings. Now let's go ahead and explore some of the different aspects about this
did I really find intriguing? Now, look, I am a huge fan
of Black Mirror. I really am, because it's it's just show that it's
or at least how how I look at it. You know, it's it's
say, how people communicate with people, how people or I'm sorry, how
people interact with people, how people interact with technology, and how people interact
with people through technology. These are some of the aspects of Black Mirror that
I find most intriguing. Of course, I like the technology aspect of it
too. So let's explore the aspect of you know, the digital cloning or
making a digital copy of somebody. You know, So, I mean,
how how far away do you think we are with this type of technology?
And I mean, granted, okay, this is another aspect of it where
they lost me in the episode, all right, because it's like, you
know, there, he's not handsferring the consciousness of these people into his computer.
It's a DNA thing. The DNA isn't going to have all the memories
that the actual person has. It would be like a newborn person, you
know, memory and everything would be basically completely wiped because that wouldn't actually technically
be the same person, just maybe look like it based off of whatever.
But anyway, you know, that's an aspect where it lost me on that
one too. But let's let's assume that it's possible on this aspect. Okay,
let's let's let's just go with how they're using it. Yes, it
could be done like this, but how far away do you think we are
with the whole making a digital copy of somebody? How far away do you
think we are on that? You know, because it would I mean,
think about it, It would be really awesome, wouldn't it? You know,
I mean take a famous person that has passed on, you know,
or just anybody in your life being able to, you know, in a
computer or simulation, what have you in a you know, in the digital
space, being able to have a conversation with, interact with, you know,
somebody like you know JFK. Somebody like Albert Einstein, somebody like Abraham
Lincoln, somebody like Martin Luther King Junior, you know, any of these
type of guys you know, or even a family member. How awesome would
that be? Now? Of course, I mean you have the aspect of
just like what they're exploring in this episode with it being missed used, but
even still, I mean, how awesome would that be? You know,
it would be pretty stink and cool. I mean, I'm just saying that
would be pretty stink and cool. But how far away do you think we
actually are from that type of thing, you know, being able to digitally
clone, digitally copy somebody, you know, Because with the advancements in technology
that we've already seen, you know, they're they're mapping of the you know,
the genome project with with DNA in general, you know, I mean,
how how far away. Do you do you truly think we are with
that type of technology? You know what, where do you think we all
wrong that? You know? What do you see as possible risk versus reward
and that type of technology? You know, these are the things that intrigue
me, you know what. You know what I'm saying. So where do
you see that? How do you see that? And the other aspect of
this I would like to you know, touch base on it's just with with
VR in general, you know that, or at least comparing this which I
don't know what you would technically call it, you know, but you know
this versus VR, I mean, do you see this as a you know,
a stepping stone after VR or the you know, a version of VR
and next progression of VR, because you know, a numbing granted, okay,
with VR, you know it, we could easily see a world much
like or at least in virtual reality, like what they kind of lay out
in the movie Ready Player one. You know, I think technology has advanced
to a place to a point, and VR is getting has got to be
getting close to that, you know, with the advancement of it to a
point like Ready Player one. Okay, so I really see that as a
you know, way more achievable a lot sooner than this kind of technology that
they're using in USS Callister, because in USS Callister it's it's an uplink that
that makes it, you know, that that puts you your consciousness into a
game. You know. And so which one would you like to see?
You know, I mean, would you want to go with the Ready Player
one version of VR or would you like to explore this type of interface with
a truly digital version of yourself? I mean personally, this type of thing
to me would be amazing, you know, because VR has its limitations,
right, you know, because in in the movie Ready Player one, you
know, you got the headset, which you still got the earphones or the
earphones, Yeah, the headphones and the microphone, and you know they're they're
wearing this body, so you get them, you know, the physical feedback
of things that are happening in you to give you a little bit more realism.
You know, they got the the the every directional treadmill that you're on
to where you can actually move and you're not just stuck in one location kind
of like how we are now. So I mean, yeah, that's all
great, fine, and dandy in is awesome, but with the technology that
they're using in US, as Calister, wouldn't you much? I would much
rather love to see that. So, I mean, do you see this
type of technology as a progression from VR? And how would you feel about
being the guinea pig of that? And I mean, granted, okay,
we've kind of touched base on this type of thing a little bit with White
Christmas. I think that's the one. No, that's not it. No,
not White Christmas. What was that wasn't Nope, wasn't that one.
Wasn't that one? It was? Playtest? Was was the the episode?
Yeah? Play test? Yeah? Season three, episode two, plays tests
awesome type of thing. And I know we talked about that a little bit
and that, you know, but even still, you know, how would
you I personally would love to see this type of technology as a progression to
VR? You know. I mean granted, you know, like VR would
be awesome virtual reality, augmented reality, but this type of thing much better
in gameplay, much better in other aspects. I think it would be pretty
stinking awesome. So what's your opinion on that? You know, what's your
what's your thoughts, your you know, your reward your you know, what
could be bad as far as doing digital cloning or digital copying of people?
And what are your thoughts on this type of progression with VR? You know,
what are your thoughts on that? Would you like to see that,
would you like to experience that? What is your downfalls that you think that
that type of technology would have? You know, the pros, the cons,
the whole nine yards. Let me know what you think on that.
Let me know doubt in the comments below. If you are listening on Spreeker,
if you are watching on YouTube, or if you're watching on any of
the other myriad of places at the podcast can be found, then you know,
email me ho Ho at the Hoho Show dot com. I would like
to hear what you have to say on that one. All right, So
that is all I got for you for today. So as a quick update
on Black Mirror, Yes, season six has been released, all five episodes.
I am totally excited about that. Now, I'm not going to jump
into that right away, Okay, I'm going to continue with the with revisiting
my favorite episodes of each season and talking of which the next episode that I
cover. I'm kind of tossing around whether I'm going to be doing episode three
Crocodile, or if I'm going to just jump right ahead to episode four,
Hang the DJ. Because Hang the DJ was awesome. I'm definitely going to
be revisiting that episode. Loved it. But I'm still tossing around whether I'm
doing Crocodile or not. You know, I don't know, definitely doing Hang
the DJ. Don't know if I'm going to be doing Crocodile or not.
Haven't decided. I don't know. I have no idea. But after we
revisit the rest of episode four and then revisit episode five and Band or Snatch,
of course, we'll be getting into season six. I'm excited to see
what they do with it because, as I've talked about previously, you know,
they upped their game on production value, on you know, with their
budget, the whole nine yards. They from everything that I have heard about
season six, they really upped their game. So I'm excited to get into
it, and we will all in due time. So that's all I got
for y'alls for today, Have yourself a wonderful day until next time. Thank
you for listening to the Black Mirror Podcast. If you would like to join
the conversation. You can comment on this episode a sprinker dot com or go
to the Hoho Show dot com, Forward, slash form, and the discussion
board for this s